On Sep 8, 1:21*am, Jason wrote:
On Sep 8, 12:29*am, "benick" wrote:





"Jason" wrote in message

....

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I'm having a deck built by a
contractor that I don't completely trust. So when he gives me advice
that seems out of the ordinary, I tend to question it.

The floor of the deck is being built with Severe Weather deck boards,
and all of the framing is built with Severe Weather boards, too (with
the exception of the hand rail). These boards seem more wet than other
wood that I've used, and I don't know if it's the type of wood that is
more heavily treated, or just because it rained here last week.

Is it better to go ahead and paint/stain the wood immediately, to
prevent it from drawing up? Or should I wait until it dries out before
treating it? If I should wait, then how long should I wait?

TIA,

Jason

If Severe weather wood is pressure treated , it is common for it to be wet ,
plus you said it rained...Duh...I'd stain it next spring as it won't have
time to dry enough to stain this fall unless you are in the deep south or
Cal. , ect........ Pressure treated wood needs ATLEAST a couple of months to
dry properly....

With construction work at a near standstill you could have had your choice
of contractors to build your deck , so I'm kinda wondering why you hired
somebody you don't trust and question his advice ??? Price ???- Hide quoted text -

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I'm in North Carolina, so it's the South, but not the DEEP South. :-)
But that's cool, I can wait until Spring.

As for why I hired this contractor... I sent it out for bids and had
several replies, but most of the contractors that responded seemed
pretty incompetent. 3 of them gave me a quote without ever seeing the
project! This one asked all the right questions, and came across as
more competent than the others when we got an estimate... until the
actual work started.

We're only a few days into the construction, but I've found several
problems that I've had to make him go back and correct (like, putting
the 4x4 supports on cinderblocks, instead of cementing them into the
ground).

That's a major red flag. Around here, NJ, code requires proper
poured footers and you need a permit to put in a deck. Which shows
that there are benefits to requiring a permit.

If things get out of hand with the contractor, you could find out if a
permit is required. If it is and he hasn't pulled one, which is his
responsibility, you have some major leverage. You could call in the
building inspector to straighten his ass out.

What was to be done to support the deck should have been spec'd in the
contract.

Did you go look at several other decks he actually built and talk to
the owners?



And he keeps arguing that I've changed the plans, when in
fact he's either forgotten the plan, misunderstood the plan (in spite
of a drawn rendering, drawn to scale), or he is simply hoping that I
will have forgotten so that he can get away with crap work (which is
what I suspect). Today, he was supposed to have been working from 8am
until 5pm, but the crew ended up getting here at 10am and knocked off
sometime between 1pm and 2:30pm, leaving the framing half finished
when the schedule called for the framing to be completely finished
today.

That's not unusual for many contractors, regardless of the quality of
the work.

Regarding the original question, I would wait to stain for a few
months, which probably means spring.



These are issues that I wouldn't have known until construction began,
and now my options are to either continue with him, or to hire someone
else to finish the job with the hopes that they're available
immediately.

You have to realize that I'm in a pretty rural area, so I don't
exactly have a lot of professional contractor options to choose from.
Most of them are just unemployed people that will swear that they can
build a deck, even though they've never actually built one before.- Hide quoted text -

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